


chances in pink

by byungari



Category: AB6IX (Band), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: 2park is not endgame, Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, blind dates gone wrong, expect the unexpected with this one, i add markhyuck bc i'm too trash not too srynotsry, jihoon is a law student, platonic soulmates!2park, surprise ships that u'll miss if u blink !, this is now a fake dating au, this takes place in america so, woojin is in a frat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-08-08
Packaged: 2019-10-23 22:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 18,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17692052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byungari/pseuds/byungari
Summary: Jihoon is studying for his LSAT when a stranger decides to plop himself in front of Jihoon and introduce himself as Jihoon’s blind date, andwhat is going on.Or, alternatively: Woojin mistakes Jihoon as his blind-date, becausepink.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an impulsive 2park fic that i word vomited from approximately 3am until 5am that u can't even call a 2park fic bc they literally friend-zone each other in the first 800ish words
> 
> enjoy!
> 
> *takes place in america  
> *also not edited but nobody should be surprised about that amirite

Jihoon wants to rip his hair out because fuck law systems and law books and their overly complicated ways of saying “lol don’t do this you’ll go to jail.”

His practice LSAT is coming up in a few weeks, and Jihoon would be damned if he doesn’t treat this like the real thing. It’s rare to be able to take a practiced LSAT for _free_ , and Jihoon doesn’t want to become boo boo the fool and waste this precious opportunity.

He’s been at the café for a couple of hours, and he can sense Jisung giving him disapproving looks every now and then. Jihoon tries to placate his doting hyung by buying himself a sandwich from the café’s many options, and he even buys a fruit smoothie instead of the iced americano that he’s dying for.

The things he’ll do to make his hyungs happy, Jihoon thinks with a sigh as he sips on his smoothie.

After eating his late lunch, Jihoon stretches, cracks his knuckles, and gets back to work. He still has two and a half chapters to cover, and he’s hoping to finish before dinnertime so that he can go back to his apartment and kick Jinyoung’s ass at Mario Kart.

It’s when Jihoon is halfway through the chapter he’s currently working on that a stranger decides to plop himself in front of Jihoon. “Hi.”

Jihoon looks up from his notes and squints because what. “Hi?”

The stranger smiles, and oh, is that a snaggletooth that Jihoon spies? “I’m Woojin.”

“Okay,” Jihoon says slowly. “I’m Jihoon.”

The stranger—Woojin nods. “So that’s your name. Daehwi wouldn’t tell me, that brat. He did tell me that you would be in pink today, though I was expecting you to be wearing like, a pink sweater or something. I didn’t think you would have pink hair and a pink laptop case.”

Jihoon glances at his laptop case—it had been a gift from Seongwoo, a senior in his department, and Jihoon isn’t an ungrateful brat who lets his gifts waste away in the bottom of his closet.

(Bae Jinyoung, I’m looking at you, Jihoon thinks spitefully as he remembers the cardigan that he had gotten for his roommate a couple of months back that he spotted in the corner floor of Jinyoung’s closet. What an ingrate.)

As for his hair, well, a botched dye job can happen to anyone, Jihoon tries to cheer himself up, and he thinks he looks pretty good in his pastel pink hair.

“Surprise?” Jihoon tries with a shrug. He has no idea what’s going on, but he thinks he deserves a break, and so he decides to humor this Woojin.

“It is a nice surprise,” Woojin admits. “The pink suits you.”

“Thank you.” Jihoon is glad that at least this stranger seems to appreciate Jihoon’s hair, unlike a certain Bae Jinyoung and even Lai Guanlin, who never hesitate to tease Jihoon about it when given the chance. Brats.

Woojin nods. “Yeah. This is a little awkward, sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly and gives Jihoon a hesitant smile. “I’ve never been on a blind date before,” he tells Jihoon, and _what_.

“I tried telling Daehwi that I don’t have time to date, but he wouldn’t listen,” Woojin continues, not noticing Jihoon trying to figure out what the hell is going on. “So, yeah. I know we’re supposed to be like, getting to know each other with the intentions of dating? I think that’s how blind dates work, right?”

“Um.” Jihoon honestly does not know, but that is what happens in the dramas, so he assumes it is true. “Most of the times, yeah. I think so.”

Woojin nods and continues to ramble, “Yeah, so I think this is wrong of me to say, but I really don’t think dating is something I should be doing right now?” He grimaces a little. “I don’t have time, and I don’t think I should date someone if I can’t give them the attention they deserve, you know?”

“I get it.” Jihoon nods, because he does. “I understand.”

“Okay, cool.” Woojin visibly relaxes in his seat. “So, um…”

The silence that stretches over them is painfully awkward, and Jihoon shifts in his seat. He kind of wants this Woojin person to leave so that he can get back to studying for his practice LSAT, but he figures it’s rude to be like, “Hey, please leave so that I can study, thanks.”

“So…” Jihoon tries, when it’s clear that Woojin is still trying to figure out what to say, judging from the way he is still squirming in his seat. “So.”

“Friends?” Woojin tries. “Daehwi will probably kill me when he hears about this. Not that I only want to be friends with you to save my neck,” he adds in a hurry. “I’m not a bad person. I think.”

Woojin looks so lost and confused that Jihoon decides to take pity on him. Kicking Jinyoung’s ass at Mario Kart would have to wait, it seems.

“Friends,” Jihoon agrees even though he still has no fucking idea of what is going on. He does not even know who this Daehwi person is, though his name does sound vaguely familiar. Jihoon wonders if this is the same Daehwi that Jinyoung cries over whenever he is drunk.

His “blind date” beams at Jihoon’s response, and Jihoon lets an amused chuckle escape him.

“You smiled.” Woojin looks surprised at that. “In the, what, twenty minutes I’ve been sitting here, you haven’t smiled once.”

Jihoon blinks. “Oh. I am just, uh, distracted?”

“I can tell.” Woojin squints at the study material that’s all over the table. “I’ve never been on a blind date before, but I didn’t realize people brought their notes to study on the date. Should I have brought my work too?”

“Oh, no.” Jihoon shakes his head. “I don’t think that usually happens. I have LSAT coming up soon, so…”

Woojin’s mouth opens and forms a little ‘o’. “Oh, wow. Are you a law student? Daehwi didn’t mention that.” He pauses and narrows his eyes at the ceiling in thought. “He didn’t really tell me anything about you, actually. Just that you’re cute and that I should look for somebody in pink.”

 _Yeah, well I did not hear a single thing about being set up on a blind date today, so I think I win that round,_ Jihoon thinks but he doesn’t dare say it out loud. He is not an asshole… to strangers, at least.

“Maybe he wanted to surprise you,” Jihoon offers. “So, Woojin, what about you? What do you study?”

“I study music,” Woojin replies and Jihoon sees a glimpse of a sparkle in his eyes. “That’s how I met Daehwi, actually. He’s my little in a music frat that I’m in. If I had known that he is actually the devil in disguise, I would’ve asked for a different one.”

“You’re in a frat?” Jihoon is actually not very surprised about that, but he figures it’s a good question to keep the conversation flowing. Jihoon doesn’t see many frat boys because he is usually too busy crying over having to memorize judicial structures and is usually holed up in either the library or his apartment, but Woojin fits the stereotypical frat-boy image that Jihoon has in his mind based on the movies and dramas that he’s watched.

Woojin looks like he works out, he is cute, and he definitely looks popular.

“Yeah. It’s a music frat, though, and like everybody is really fucking weird.” He scrunches his nose as he continues talking about his pledge-brothers. “This one time, Daehwi said that Youngmin hyung probably couldn’t finish 20 burgers in one seating, so he tried and ended up throwing up all over our coffee table.”

Woojin grimaces at the memory and Jihoon makes a noise of disgust. “That’s gross.”

“It really was,” Woojin says grimly. “I am never eating burgers with Youngmin hyung again.”

“Sounds… interesting,” Jihoon offers. “Your pledge-brothers sound like they can have fun.”

“Sometimes I wish they would stop having so much fun, because I am getting white hair because of them,” Woojin grumbles. “We had to explain to our president why and how Donghyun hyung got stuck in a tree yesterday.”

Jihoon blinks. “I. What.”

“Yeah, same.” Woojin sighs. “I was not here for that.”

“They sound like a messy bunch.”

“They _are_ ,” Woojin groans, and Jihoon laughs.

 

 

* * *

 

 

They talk for hours until it’s past dinnertime and Jihoon gets a text from Jinyoung asking where he is. “I should go. My roommate is looking for me. I think he is close to filing a missing person’s report.”

Woojin laughs at that. “It is getting kind of late.” He takes out his phone to check the time and winces at the messages and calls that he has. “We missed dinner.”

Jihoon pauses from where he had been packing up. “Is the dining hall closed?”

“Yeah,” Woojin responds as he replies to some messages. “Daehwi said that there was a leak or something, so they had to close early. I think there’s food at the frat house, though, so I’ll be fine. What about you?”

It is kind of cute how concerned Woojin sounds about the possibility of Jihoon not having the means of getting dinner. “I went grocery shopping the other day, so I will probably just cook something at home. Or maybe my roommate was feeling nice and decided to get me something to eat while he was out.”

Which is pretty unlikely, seeing how Jinyoung is the biggest brat to ever exist, but Jihoon can always hope.

Woojin grins. “And how likely is that?”

“Not likely at all,” Jihoon admits, a little surprised. He wonders if Woojin can read his mind.

“Guess this is where we part, then,” Woojin says as they head out of the café. Jihoon makes sure to wave goodbye at Jisung before he steps out after Woojin. “This was fun. A nice way to destress, I think. I just failed every single midterm, you see.”

Jihoon laughs loudly. “I am glad that I am not the only one who is trying to recover from the crippling defeat I had against my midterms. This was fun.” Jihoon is surprised at how true that statement is.

Woojin hesitates before asking: “Do you mind if I ask for your number? I think you’re pretty cool, and I had fun talking to you. Friends, right?”

“Friends,” Jihoon agrees and takes the phone offered to him. “Here you go. I’ll see you around, Woojin.”

He gives Woojin one last grin and waves as they both go their separate ways.

Sure, Jihoon had gotten virtually nothing done tonight, but at least he made a new friend who will (hopefully) not give him a headache like Jinyoung does, Jihoon tells himself cheerfully. He thinks that is still something productive.

Though, he does have to wonder _who_ Woojin’s actual blind date was supposed to be. Jihoon hopes that whoever it was, they did not wait too long in the café.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“So.” Daehwi slides into the seat in front of Woojin, who is eating some leftover take-out that he found in the communal refrigerator. “I hear you did not show up for your blind date.”

“Huh?” Woojin quickly swallows and gives Daehwi a weird look. “What are you talking about? I just got back from spending like, six hours with my blind date.”

“Um, no you didn’t.” It is Daehwi’s turn to give Woojin a weird look. “I just got a text from Daniel hyung saying that you never showed up, and that he waited an hour for you?”

Woojin is confused. “Who the heck is Daniel?”

“Your blind date,” Daehwi says as patiently as he can manage. Woojin knows that it is probably killing him inside. “You know, the person that I set you up with?”

“Um, my blind date’s name is Jihoon,” Woojin says slowly. “Law student with pastel pink hair? Ring any bells?”

Daehwi looks floored. “You were on a blind date with Jinyoung hyung’s roommate? What the heck? How did you manage _that_? Jihoon hyung _never_ goes on blind dates; he always says that he is too busy.”

Woojin squints, trying to figure out if Daehwi is playing a trick on him. “You set me up with him.”

“No, I set you up with Kang Daniel, star of our soccer team?”

“Then who did I just spend the past six hours with?” Woojin feels like his brain is melting. “What the fuck?”

“That’s what I want to know.” Daehwi frowns at him. “Well, I will spare you from my wrath for now because Daniel hyung ended up meeting the love of his life, apparently.” He rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe he is crushing on Sungwoon hyung of all people. That hyung is scary, but in a good way.”

Woojin has no idea who any of these people are. “Who is Sungwoon?”

“You would know if you joined us for the mixers we have each term,” Youngmin says as he walks by to grab a bottle of water. “How was your date?”

“It went great,” Woojin says at the same time Daehwi says, “He did not even go.”

Youngmin pauses in drinking his water and stares at the duo, blinking and trying to figure out what is going on.

“Okay,” is what Youngmin ends up saying. “I am glad you had fun, Woojin.” He leaves it at that, because Youngmin is smart enough to not attempt to decipher whatever is going on in Woojin’s and Daehwi’s minds. “I am going to go drown myself in theory before I go to sleep. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight,” Woojin and Daehwi chorus. “So, who is Daniel,” Woojin asks Daehwi in genuine confusion mixed with worry. “Was Jihoon really not my blind date?”

“No, you dummy,” Daehwi scolds. “God, I should’ve told you Daniel hyung’s name from the start. It is my fault for overestimating your abilities to follow simple directions. I told you that he would be in pink, didn’t I?”

“Jihoon _was_ in pink!” Woojin protests. “He has pink hair, _and_ he had a pink laptop case. What was I supposed to expect?”

Daehwi snorts and gets up from his seat. “You are an idiot, Woojin hyung. But I am glad you had fun. I’m going to go back to writing my paper. Make sure to brush your teeth before you sleep.”

“I am not a kid,” Woojin grumbles, “and you are most definitely not my mother, you brat. Goodnight, Hwi.”

Daehwi blows him a kiss before heading back upstairs. Woojin munches on his food thoughtfully before fishing out his phone from his pocket and opening KakaoTalk to see if Jihoon’s number has synced onto his friend’s list.

A picture of Jihoon squinting into the camera in front of what looks like the Statue of Liberty is what greets him when Woojin clicks on Jihoon’s profile, and he’s pleasantly surprised to see that Jihoon has dark brown hair in the picture.

**_Park Jihoon_ **

So

It turns out that u were not my blind date

Care to explain?

lol

surprise!

i was wondering when you would find out

 

Why didn’t u tell me!!

Omg this is so embarrassing

How confused were u when I just sat down in front of u and told u that I am ur blind date

 

very confused

but at least i made a new friend

i do have to get some studying done rn though so i’ll talk to you later?

 

SLDFJKSLDFKJ

Okay

Goodnight!

 

goodnight, woojin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> comments + kudos make my day! i hope you enjoyed uwu
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/iridescent__ong) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/gyulhyuck)


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jihoon offers a proposal. Woojin panics. A lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *reminder that this fic takes place in aMeRiCa  
> *not edited bc that's how i Roll.  
> *2park is not endgame. i added it to the tag so please make sure you keep that in mind as you read.
> 
> *KSA = Korean Student Association
> 
> this is just ~12k of Woojin's gay panic and ~3k of actual plot  
> enjoy lmao

**Park Jihoon:** help

Woojin raises an eyebrow at the text he gets from Jihoon, and quickly types out his response.

 **Park Woojin:** What’s wrong??

 **Park Jihoon:** annoying guy in my department who won’t stop bugging me for a date  
**Park Jihoon:** permission to maim??

 **Park Woojin:** Permission denied.  
**Park Woojin:** Can’t you just tell him to f off?

 **Park Jihoon:** i tried!!! but he is persistent  
**Park Jihoon:** help

 **Park Woojin:** How can I help

 **Park Jihoon:** idk  
**Park Jihoon:** figure it out

 **Park Woojin:** Wow

 **Park Jihoon:** fml  
**Park Jihoon:** i finally got away from him  
**Park Jihoon:** thank u seongwoo hyung

 **Park Woojin:** Buy him a meal

 **Park Jihoon:** i am broke  
**Park Jihoon:** do u think he will pretend to be my boyfriend so that i can get away from that annoying asshole

Woojin pauses and rereads Jihoon’s message, wondering if his eyes are working properly.

 **Park Woojin:** Um.

 **Park Jihoon:** lol  
**Park Jihoon:** i am kidding dw  
**Park Jihoon:** ok gtg time for lecture  
**Park Jihoon:** byeee

 **Park Woojin:** Lol  
**Park Woojin:** Have fun

 **Park Jihoon:** i wont

 **Park Woojin:** I know

 **Park Jihoon:** 🖕🏻

 

* * *

 

Woojin is on his way to meet with Jihoon for their weekly (read: daily) bubble tea break when he spots Jihoon in front of the bus stop that’s a block away from their regular bubble tea place. He’s about to yell his name to get the law student’s attention when his brain processes what he is seeing, and Woojin’s eyebrows shoot up.

There’s a dude who looks like he is trying to hit on Jihoon, and Woojin can see that Jihoon is getting increasingly more annoyed by the second, judging from the way his eyes get darker and darker.

Deciding to intervene for the safety of the stranger, Woojin smoothly slides up next to Jihoon and wraps an arm around his waist, bringing the law student close to his side. “Hey, babe. Sorry I’m late.”

Jihoon looks alarmed but schools his expression back into a neutral one quickly when he sees that it’s just Woojin, who hopes that Jihoon has enough braincells left after exams to play along with Woojin.

“Hey, babe.” It seems that Jihoon is smarter than the rest of Woojin’s friends, thankfully. “It’s okay. You weren’t that late anyways.”

The stranger looks disgruntled at Woojin’s appearance and interruption. “Who are you?” he demands.

“Is this guy bothering you?” Woojin ignores him and tilts his head towards the dude, whose frown gets bigger when he is ignored.

“He was just leaving, right, Andrew?” Jihoon says so sweetly that Woojin feels a flash of fear for his own life, despite the fact that he is not Andrew.

Andrew narrows his eyes at the arm Woojin has around Jihoon. “Is this your boyfriend?”

“Yes,” Jihoon says quickly. “So that’s why I can’t go out with you.” He doesn’t say sorry, and Woojin can tell that he does not feel sorry at all. At least Jihoon doesn’t give out false apologies.

“Oh, I see.” Andrew sounds like he wants to say something else but decides against it. “Well, you have my number. Hit me up whenever.”

The, ‘hit me up when you two break up’ goes unsaid, but it is there, and Woojin can see why Jihoon does not want to go on a date with this person.

“Sure,” Jihoon says unconvincingly. Woojin hides a snort by coughing into his elbow, but he knows from the way Jihoon nudges his sides that he did not conceal it properly. Andrew glares, and Woojin grins back.

“Well, let’s go.” Woojin steers Jihoon away before he can do any physical harm and says over his shoulder, “See you around, Andrew.” He gets a kick at the way Andrew glowers at the two of them and laughs when they’re far enough that Andrew won’t hear.

“You are a brat,” Jihoon informs him as they walk towards the bubble tea shop. “But thank you for saving me back there. Andrew can be a little persistent.”

“A little?” Woojin raises an eyebrow. “I would say a lot, but okay.”

Jihoon grimaces. “I hate him.”

“I could tell.”

“His yellow fever is.” Jihoon pauses to shudder and Woojin gives him a comforting pat on the back. “His yellow fever is crazy. You know he tried to convince Minhyun hyung to go on a date with him while Dongho hyung was glaring at him the entire time?”

Woojin has to pause. “Wait, he tried to seduce Minhyun hyung when Dongho hyung was standing right there?”

“Yes.”

“Wow.” Woojin whistles lowly. “There are less painful ways of committing suicide, but okay.”

Jihoon snorts. “That is funny because Dongho hyung probably cannot kill a bug without getting sad about it. He is so soft. We worry for him sometimes.”

“But most people don’t know that, so my statement still stands,” Woojin points out. Jihoon cracks a smile at that and Woojin feels immensely proud that he can still manage to make Jihoon smile when the law student looks like he is in a foul mood.

 

* * *

 

“So.”

Woojin looks up from his textbooks only to see that Daehwi is staring down at him with eyes that scream curiosity.

“So,” Woojin repeats hesitantly, unsure of what’s going on.

“Are you and Jihoon hyung dating yet?”

Woojin pauses and gives Daehwi a weird look. “No?”

The two of them look towards the kitchen when they hear a crash, followed by a, “Shut up, Youngmin hyung, I can’t hear!” Woojin sighs when he realizes that Youngmin and Donghyun are probably eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Why not,” Daehwi demands when he loses interest in the idiots that are YoungDong. “You two go on dates like every week.”

“What dates?” Woojin is genuinely confused.

Daehwi looks like he wants to throw Woojin off the rooftop of their frat house. “Don’t you two go and get bubble tea like, I don’t know, _every day_?” he asks, with feeling. “That’s a date, Woojin hyung.”

Woojin lets out an exasperated sigh and turns his attention back to his homework. “No, that’s called friends hanging out. Not everything has to have a romantic connotation, you know. I’m allowed to be friends with someone without wanting to date them.”

This cause Daehwi to stop with a pout. “Okay, that’s true, but—”

“No buts,” Woojin interrupts. “I don’t have any romantic feelings towards Jihoon and it’s the same for him. We’re both too busy to date and it wouldn’t be fair to either of us if we were to ever pursue a relationship half-assed. Not that we would ever do that,” Woojin is quick to add when Daehwi opens his mouth. “He’s just comfortable. Kind of like you.”

“Well.” Daehwi says after a beat of silence. “I am glad you are making new friends, I guess. And that you think I am comfortable.”

“You are literally my little. I already told you that you are like a little brother to me too,” Woojin deadpans.

Daehwi waves it off dismissively. “It’s always nice to hear things like that again, you know. Well, okay. I just wanted to ask to see where you guys stand.”

He has more to say, Woojin knows, but their attention is caught by Woong, who comes down the stairs with a confused look on his face.

“Um. Does anyone else smell smoke, or is it just me?” Woong asks, his gaze shifting towards the kitchen where a suspicious amount of smoke is coming from.

Woojin sniffs the air and, yup, he definitely smells something burning.

“Are you guys cooking?” Woong takes a small step towards the kitchen, though he doesn’t venture any further out of fear. “I smell something burning. Is something burning?”

“Just my desire for Donghyun,” Youngmin deadpans.

Woong decides to venture into the kitchen (a brave soul, Woojin thinks), and immediately pales when he stands at the entrance.

“ _Hyung the toaster is on fire!_ ”

Woojin sighs. Just another day.

 

* * *

 

“So.” Jihoon sets (read: slams) his books down in the spot in front of Woojin and stares down at him with a serious expression. “I have a proposition.”

“If it isn’t a proposition that’ll help me pass chemistry, I don’t want to hear it,” Woojin replies in a dead voice. Chemistry is hard, okay.

Jihoon squints at Woojin’s open textbook. “Why are you in general chemistry? This is a first-year course, Woojin.”

“Because I’m gay and stupid, Jihoon,” Woojin deadpans.

“Those two things aren’t correlated,” Jihoon responds.

Woojin grunts. “I’m gay and I don’t care.” Jihoon snorts at that and opens up his notes. Woojin glances to see what he’s studying and makes a face when he sees “Intro to Criminal Psychology” on the cover. Yeah, no thanks.

The pair study silently for a bit before Jihoon remembers he had approached Woojin with a _purpose_.

“Date me,” Jihoon blurts out. Woojin pauses, looks up, and stares.

“What.” He deadpans.

“That could’ve been said a little better,” Jihoon admits. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

Woojin sighs and closes his textbook. He gets the feeling he’s not going to get any studying done any time soon. Not with Jihoon around, at least.

“I can’t imagine that being meant in any other way,” Woojin says flatly.

“Pretend to be my boyfriend,” Jihoon whispers, looking around to make sure no one can hear—ignoring the fact that the two of them are quite literally the only ones on the floor at the moment. “Just long enough to get the annoying ones off my back.”

“Like Andrew?” Woojin asks.

“Like Andrew.” Jihoon nods solemnly.

Woojin hums and leans back in his chair, leveling Jihoon with a serious gaze. “You realize how dumb this idea is, right?”

Jihoon deflates. “Yeah,” he admits. “But they won’t _stop_. No matter how much I say no and reject them, they bounce back the next day and pester me again.”

The scowl Jihoon has on his face is adorable and Woojin can’t help the chuckle that escapes. He laughs even harder at the affronted look Jihoon has on his face, and Woojin thinks that his friend vaguely resembles an angry Jigglypuff.

“You think this is funny, you asshole?” Jihoon complains, though it’s without malice. “I’m being serious here.”

“So am I,” Woojin says, still chuckling. “Of all the dumb ideas you’ve had so far, this one really takes the cake.”

“This is the _only_ dumb idea I’ve had so far,” Jihoon corrects him. He makes a face then sighs, and Woojin tilts his head in question. “No, never mind. This is stupid. I’ll just tell them to fuck off before I slap them all with restraining orders.”

Woojin snorts. “Threaten to sue for harassment. This can be your case study for your thesis.”

“I don’t think I’m allowed to use it if I’m the one who’s doing the suing,” Jihoon muses. “Though, that’d be interesting. Maybe I’ll ask my advisor if those assholes keep bothering me.”

“Yeah, you do that,” Woojin says and rolls his eyes teasingly. “How’s the studying going for LSAT, by the way?”

Jihoon gives him a flat stare. “I wish I was dead.”

“Mood. Big mood.”

 

* * *

 

Three weeks pass before Woojin even thinks about Jihoon’s dumb proposal. It comes at the weirdest time, when Woojin is pouring cereal into his bowl. It’s almost midnight, and he can sense Daehwi’s judgement from where the younger is sitting at the kitchen counter studying for his English exam.

“It’s midnight,” Daehwi tells him.

“Time is an illusion,” Woojin responds.

Daehwi rolls his eyes and ignores the elder in favor of going back to his notes.

He shovels the cereal into his mouth and chews thoughtfully. Fake dating your best friend never worked out well. Woojin’s seen all the movies and read the books: it’s a recipe for disaster.

Yet, the idea won’t leave his mind and Woojin frowns at the wall. “Hey, Daehwi,” he says finally. “I have a question for you.”

“What is it?” Daehwi asks, sounding terribly interested.

“What would you do if Jinyoung asked you to fake date him so that he could get rid of annoying assholes who keep asking you out?”

Daehwi freezes and looks up slowly from his notes, and stares at Woojin with an unreadable expression.

“… What.” He says finally, after a long pause. Woojin shifts uncomfortably in his seat as Daehwi stares him down. “Where is this coming from.”

It isn’t said like a question. In fact, Daehwi’s face says he already knows the answer, but he probably wants to hear Woojin say it with his own mouth.

He can’t believe the audacity of his little, sometimes.

“There are some guys bothering Jihoon.” Woojin decides to come clean, knowing that Daehwi would find out about it one way or another.

“So, you suggested you two be fake boyfriends?” Daehwi frowns. “Are you an idiot?”

“What? No,” Woojin protests. “He’s the one who suggested it. I can’t tell if he was serious or not, though. He told me to forget about it. I think he is just going a little crazy because of, well, life.”

Daehwi narrows his eyes. “Then why are you asking me about it?”

“No reason.” Woojin sighs. “I just remembered it out of nowhere, that’s all.”

“Okay.” Daehwi looks at him like he’s suspicious, but Woojin can’t be bothered to care much right now. He puts his bowl in the sink and bids Daehwi a good night before he runs out of the kitchen to escape from Daehwi’s judgmental stares.

He’d deal with the aftermath of his question later, Woojin thinks as he flops onto the bed.

 

* * *

 

It’s a Saturday when Woojin has to pretend to be Jihoon’s boyfriend for the second time. They had been planning on grabbing some food before they hole themselves in the library to study for their impending dooms when someone Woojin doesn’t know approaches them.

Jihoon immediately makes a face and latches himself onto Woojin’s arm, and Woojin stares down at Jihoon like he is crazy. “What are you doing,” he hisses and tries to get Jihoon to let go.

“Just play along for five minutes,” Jihoon hisses back. “I’ll pay for your food today.”

That gets Woojin to shut up and let Jihoon have his way. He may be dumb, but he’s not dumb enough to turn down free food. Not when he’s a broke college student, wondering if he will have to sell his kidneys to pay off his student loans.

“Hey, Jihoon.” The guy reaches them by the time the two are done arguing and eyes Woojin in disdain. Woojin raises an eyebrow and wonders if this is one of Jihoon’s many, annoying ass suitors. “How are you?”

“Hey, Trent,” Jihoon says with such fake enthusiasm that Woojin has to physically hold himself back from snorting. “I’m good, how are you?”

“I’m doing great.” Trent gives Jihoon what he probably thinks is a winning grin.

“That’s great,” Jihoon chirps. “Well, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll just be on our way—”

“One second.” Trent holds an arm out to stop the pair from leaving and Woojin frowns, not liking how forcefully aggressive this guy is. “I have a question.”

Jihoon quietly mutters a curse. “What is it?”

“Are you free next Saturday?” Trent asks. “I was wondering if you’d want to see a movie.”

“Oh, um, no I’m not,” Jihoon says. “I already have plans, sorry.”

Trent waves it away. “It’s okay. It won’t be all day, right? We can meet up for lunch or dinner, depending on when your plans are.”

Jihoon breathes in deeply and Woojin knows he’s holding himself back from cursing. “No, my plans will last all day. Sorry.”

“How about Sunday?” This Trent person is relentless, and Woojin just sighs and decides this is probably when he should step in.

“No, he’s not free on Sunday either.” Woojin detaches his arms from Jihoon’s, choosing to wrap them around the law student’s shoulders instead. “He’ll be with me all day. Right, babe?”

“Right,” Jihoon says, sounding unsure, but then clears his throat. “Yeah.”

Trent narrows his eyes at Woojin. “And who would you be?”

“Jihoon’s boyfriend,” Woojin says cheerfully. “So, if you’ll excuse us, my _boyfriend_ and I will be on our way now. It was nice to meet you, Trent!”

He practically drags Jihoon away from the relentless asshole and doesn’t let go of his best friend until they’re far, _far_ away.

“I see what you mean by annoying assholes who won’t leave you alone,” Woojin admits defeat when they’re at the restaurant, waiting for their food to arrive.”

Jihoon grumbles. “You see what I mean now? It’s hard being smart _and_ good-looking. God truly is not fair.”

Woojin snorts.

 

* * *

 

Woojin is eating lunch with Woong, waiting for Daehwi to join them, when Jinyoung slides into the seat next to Woong’s.

The two of them stare at the younger boy, who’s unwrapping his sandwich, completely oblivious to the stares.

“Hi.” Woojin breaks the silence. “What’s up, Jinyoung?”

“Hey, hyung,” Jinyoung greets as he slathers mayonnaise all over his sandwich. He stares at the copious amount for a bit before making a face and shrugging. Woojin and Woong watch in various degrees of disgust as the younger boy shoves half of the sandwich into his mouth.

“Um.” Woong looks concerned. “Please don’t choke.”

“I won’t,” Jinyoung assures Woong through his mouthful of sandwich, somehow sounding coherent.

Woong seems to accept that and continues on with his lunch whereas Woojin is still suspicious of the way Jinyoung joins them, but eventually moves on because, fuck, he has a lecture to haul his ass to in exactly thirty minutes.

“So, Woong hyung, how was your week?” Jinyoung asks when he finally manages to swallow the half of his sandwich he’s shoved into his mouth. “Heard you fell off your bed and dropped your breakfast into the sewer this morning.”

A pause, then, “Lee Daehwi.” Woong says this with so much betrayal in his voice that Jinyoung manages to look guilty for a split second before shrugging.

“Daehwi,” he agrees and proceeds to shove the other half of his sandwich into his mouth before turning his attention to Woojin. “Woojin hyung.”

“Please finish chewing before you open your mouth to talk,” requests Woojin as he leans back in disgust. “Daehwi hates people who talk with food in their mouths, you know.”

That gets Jinyoung to shut up (forever, Woojin hopes), and the younger thankfully finishes his sandwich before he opens his mouth. “So, Woojin hyung,” he repeats.

“Jinyoung,” Woojin says, sounding reluctant.

“Heard you and Jihoon hyung are boyfriends now.”

Woong spits out his water and Woojin actually chokes on his burger.

“Oh, by the way, Daehwi said he can’t join us for lunch today,” Jinyoung informs them. “He said he doesn’t want to go to jail for murder quite yet.”

“Who is he murdering?” Woong asks weakly, sounding like he is scared to hear the answer.

“Woojin hyung,” replies Jinyoung.

“I am not dating Jihoon,” Woojin coughs out. “What the fuck?”

Jinyoung gives him a weird look. “Um, that’s not what Daehwi’s saying. Or Seongwoo hyung. Minhyun hyung knows too, and sends his congratulations, by the way. Everybody already knows you two are dating.”

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Woojin is going to kill Jihoon one day, really.

“We’re not dating,” Woojin hisses, leaning forward so he can talk quietly without anyone hearing. "We just pretended we were to get away from some asshole who was harassing him, that’s all. How did people hear this, anyways?”

“Is the asshole’s name Andrew? Or did you run into Trent? Noah, maybe?” Jinyoung asks, not bothering the keep his voice down.

“Andrew and Trent,” Woojin says. “Who’s Noah?”

“Oh.” A pause, then, “You’re lucky you haven’t run into Noah yet. Or maybe he’s the lucky one. You could probably snap him like a twig.”

Woong pipes up quietly, “Please don’t snap anyone like a twig.”

“I am not snapping anyone like a twig.” Woojin groans. He just wanted a quiet university life, graduate, and be jobless for a bit before being forced to work part-time for the rest of his life and die from the crushing weight of his crippling student loans.

Tragic, indeed.

“So.” Jinyoung brings the attention back to him. He looks confused. “You two are not dating, then?”

Woojin sighs deeply. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Is that a legitimate question?” Woojin asks flatly.

Jinyoung just shrugs instead and swipes a French fry from Woojin’s plate, leaving the elder to wonder what the fuck goes on in Jinyoung’s mind sometimes.

 

* * *

 

Woojin is sitting in the living room, staring at the wall blankly. It’s Thursday, and he has lecture in a little while, but Woojin honestly cannot bring himself to get up and start being productive.

“What are you doing?” Woong suddenly appears, standing over him and staring down at Woojin weirdly. “Your socks don’t match,” he informs the younger, as if Woojin needs any more reminder of how much of a mess his life is.

“Hyung, my life is in shambles,” Woojin tells him seriously.

Woong blinks and nods. “That’s understandable. Don’t you have lecture soon? Soon as in like,” Woong checks his watch, “thirty minutes? You should start heading to campus if you don’t want to be late.”

“Time is an illusion,” Woojin replies.

Woong blinks. “You should start heading to campus,” he repeats, with feeling. “I have to go anyways. My study group is meeting in the library. Do you want to go together?”

Woojin sighs, knowing having someone accompany him will make him more willing to go to lecture. And he really should. Attendance is actually mandatory for this particular class, and Woojin’s already missed one lecture and has been tardy on four separate occasions.

“I guess,” says Woojin, sounding a little too reluctant. “Let me just go get my bag.”

“Okay.” Woong smiles. “Don’t trip.”

“Don’t jinx me, hyung,” Woojin complains, and that gets a laugh out of Woong.

Woojin smiles back and hurries to his room so he can get his bag, not wanting to keep Woong waiting.

 

* * *

 

“I thought about your proposal,” Woojin announces when they sit down at their usual bubble tea shop. Jihoon looks up from where he’s been putting his wallet away, confusion etched onto his face.

“What proposal?” he asks, sounding a little lost. “When did I propose to you, the fuck?”

Woojin stares at him. Now he’s the one feeling confused. “The one where you asked me to be your fake boyfriend.” He whispers the last part in case people hear.

Jihoon’s mouth makes a little ‘o’ and Woojin inwardly snorts at how dumb his best friend looks. “Oh. What the fuck? That was weeks ago.”

“Well, everybody on campus who cares seems to think we’re dating now, so.” Woojin shoots Jihoon a look, who shrinks back, looking a little guilty. Serves him right, Woojin thinks.

“Ah, yeah.” Jihoon winces. “Trent has a big mouth.”

Woojin snorts. “I can see that. Anyways, I thought about your proposal.”

“Lay your worst.” Jihoon holds out his hands, palms facing up, and waits for Woojin to continue.

“Well, everybody already thinks we’re dating, so why not let them keep thinking that?” Woojin says nonchalantly, shrugging a little. “You’ll owe me, of course, but it’s kind of jarring to see all those assholes approaching you with their fragile masculinity and aggressiveness.”

Jihoon snorts at that and Woojin grins, glad to see his best friend laugh for the first time in what seems like forever.

“Why all of a sudden, though?” Jihoon asks, tilting his head. “I was mostly joking when I suggested it, you know. I wouldn’t ask you to actually do that for me.”

Woojin hums. “Consider it my good deed of the year, I guess? I don’t know. I already started getting glares from your numerous suitors around campus, might as well help you out while I’m the most hated kid at school right now. Get them off your back, if anything.”

There’s a small, hesitant smile on Jihoon’s face, and Woojin can see the gratefulness in his eyes. “Thank you, Woojin,” the law student says. “Really, thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Woojin says, giving Jihoon a smile of his own. “What are best friends for, right?”

 

* * *

 

They decide to make things “official” at a party thrown by KSA, where all of their friends will be. It’s terrifying to think how Daehwi will react, but Woojin stamps those fears down with the knowledge that Daehwi is tiny and can’t actually do any bodily harm.

(That doesn’t mean he can’t get back at Woojin in other ways, and he makes a mental note to hide all his belongings and lock his door at night.)

“I’m nervous,” Jihoon says, shivering a little at the thought of going public on their Definitely-Real-Relationship. They’ve already hashed out the background story, keeping it as real as they possibly could. Starting from their blind-date gone wrong to the numerous study and bubble tea “dates” they’ve had this past semester—Woojin’s actually proud of their “love story.”

Woojin smirks. “Ready to tell the world we’re dating, _boyfriend_?” he teases. It’s to help Jihoon shake off his nerves, and he knows that the law student is aware of what he’s doing. “Do you think anyone’s going to call us out on our bullshit?”

“The only person I’m worried about is Daehwi, to be honest,” Jihoon admits. “And Minhyun hyung, kind of, but if Dongho hyung is here then we don’t have to worry about him. The rest of them are too dumb to notice anything.”

“Jisung hyung? Sungwoon hyung?” Woojin raises an eyebrow.

Jihoon stops and turns to look at Woojin with an unimpressed look. “You really think those two hyungs are going to be here? Really?”

That shuts Woojin up. “True. Very true.”

“Exactly.” Jihoon snorts. Woojin notices that the nervous energy is pretty much all gone. This is proven when Jihoon grabs Woojin’s hand and interlaces their fingers. “Come on, we have a relationship to fake.”

He tugs Woojin forward and turns his body slightly to give the music student a wide grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

“Ready?” he asks, squeezing Woojin’s hand.

“Ready,” Woojin replies, squeezing back.

 

* * *

 

The party is already in full swing when they arrive, and it’s _loud_. Woojin winces at the shitty bass system that’s thumping through the house and dodges the drunk bodies with mild disgust.

“Stupid college students,” Woojin grumbles, tugging Jihoon out of the way and towards the kitchen, where it’s moderately less crowded.

“You’re a college student,” Jihoon points out. “Does that mean you’re stupid too?”

“Don’t ask questions I don’t want to answer.” Woojin lightly flicks Jihoon’s forehead. “What do you want to drink?”

Jihoon scrunches his nose at the selection but brightens when he spots the bottles of soju. “Soju!”

“I am not pouring you an entire cup of soju,” Woojin deadpans. Jihoon makes an offended noise and lightly shoves Woojin away with his hip.

“Then move, I’ll pour myself a cup of soju.” Jihoon does exactly that and Woojin just watches with an exasperated but slightly, _just_ slightly fond expression. “Do you want me to mix you a drink?”

“Nah.” Woojin shakes his head. “I’m not in the mood to get drunk tonight. I’ll probably just grab a beer later, or something.”

Jihoon shrugs. “Okay, suit yourself. Let’s go. I want to harass Baejin a little.”

“You’re the devil,” Woojin comments as he wraps his arm around Jihoon almost protectively as they navigate themselves through the crowd. “Christ, how can so many people fit in one house? This has to be a safety hazard.”

“If the fire department came right now, we’d be so fucked,” says Jihoon. “This is probably way past maximum occupancy.”

“Wow, I love it when you talk smart to me.” Woojin deadpans but breaks out into an amused grin, grunting when Jihoon elbows him. “Um, ouch?”

“That was supposed to hurt.”

“How rude.” There’s a pout on Woojin’s face, and Jihoon pushes him away with a laugh.

“Uh, gross.”

The pair turn to where the voice came from. It’s Jinyoung and Daehwi, the former staring at them in disgust while the latter glowers at Woojin, not even bothering to mask his glower.

“Hi.” Woojin greets them when the silence stretches too long for it to be comfortable.

A beat of pause, then: “I’m going to kill you,” Daehwi says. “I’m going to kill you dead.”

“Don’t do that, please,” Jihoon chides with a smirk. “I’d prefer it if my boyfriend makes it out of here alive.”

Jinyoung’s eye bulges and Daehwi’s jaw drops at Jihoon officially putting a label to their “relationship.” There’s a satisfaction that comes with being able to truly render Daehwi speechless, even when Woojin knows that they’re out here pulling the biggest bullshit Woojin has ever pulled in his university career.

(Woojin doesn’t let himself think about how mad Daehwi is going to get when they reveal the truth. He’d deal with that when the time comes. Preferably when they’re far away enough so that Daehwi can’t set Woojin on fire, or something.

He should really discuss Daehwi’s arsonist tendencies with Youngmin when he gets the chance, Woojin muses to himself silently.)

“I thought you said you weren’t dating!” Jinyoung hisses, looking understandably affronted. Woojin had, to his knowledge, anyways, lied to his face exactly one week ago. “I can’t believe you lied to me, hyung. Right in front of my salad, too!”

“You were eating a sandwich,” Woojin points out. “A sandwich with a shit ton of mayo, which was really gross, by the way.”

“That’s beside the point here,” Jinyoung complains.

Jihoon shrugs. “It is what it is, Jinyoung.”

“Since when?” Daehwi pipes up, narrowing his eyes at Woojin, who suddenly gets a vivid, horrifying flashback of midnight in their communal kitchen. There had been cereal and English notes involved, as well as an error on Woojin’s part.

“Not too long ago,” Jihoon replies, unaware of Woojin’s inner turmoil and mental breakdown.

“Hm,” Daehwi says. “I see.” He stares Woojin down with the promise of death in the near future, and Woojin makes another mental note to avoid his little until he can guarantee his own safety. “Well, congratulations, I guess.” Daehwi shrugs, seemingly deciding that it’s not worth it for the time being.

“Thanks.” Woojin manages to choke out without bringing too much suspicion. Jihoon shoots him a weird look and Woojin just squeezes his hand. “Where’s everyone else, anyways? I’m surprised Daniel hyung hasn’t jumped us yet.”

“He and Sungwoon hyung are out being an old married couple,” Jinyoung informs them. “You should see their Instagram stories. It’s sickeningly cute.”

Jihoon sighs. “Must be nice to be old and in love.”

“You literally just called Woojin hyung your boyfriend,” Jinyoung deadpans, and Jihoon freezes before shrugging nonchalantly.

“It’s too early to say it’s love for us,” he covers up his mistake.

Daehwi purses his lips. “That’s valid. Okay, well have fun. Don’t do anything stupid.” That last sentence is directed towards Woojin, and Woojin makes a face.

“I haven’t done anything stupid like, all week,” he grumbles and Jihoon laughs, pulling him away from the two demons.

“See you guys later!” Jihoon calls out, tugging Woojin towards the crowd. “Daehwi scares me.”

“Me too.” Woojin sighs. “Me fucking too.”

 

* * *

 

News spreads pretty quickly thanks to how big the KSA party had been, and Woojin wakes up the next morning to an influx of messages from his friends in the dance club and the random seniors he’s become friends with over the year.

It’s not a surprise that everyone’s demanding an explanation, Woojin thinks. He and Jihoon had dipped pretty early last night, opting to crash at Woojin’s room at the frat house and watch movies before Woojin walked Jihoon back home at 3 a.m.

He ignores all the messages and just replies to Jihoon’s text about meeting up later that day to study, opting to head to the bathroom to clean himself up a little.

When he stumbles down the stairs later, he squints at the sight in front of him. “You’re not in this frat,” he says, pointing an almost accusatory finger at Seongwoo, who’s perched at the counter, sipping on a cup of coffee.

“An outstanding observation,” Seongwoo praises mockingly. “I’m glad you’re aware of that after rushing two and a half years ago.”

Woojin rolls his eyes and pads over towards the fridge. “What are you doing here?”

“Youngmin let me crash on the couch last night.” Seongwoo shrugs. “I was too drunk, and I couldn’t find my keys.”

Woojin pauses. “You lost your keys at the party? Hyung, you're a mess.”

“No, I found them in back pocket this morning.” Seongwoo grimaces. “Drunk Seongwoo is a menace, I tell you.”

“Not as much as Jihoon is,” Woojin mumbles mostly to himself, but Seongwoo hears him anyways.

“Ah, yes. I heard about your recent developments with my little protégé.” Seongwoo sets down his mug and raises an eyebrow. “You know our department is in an uproar, right?”

“Am I going to get death threats in the form of court summons?” Woojin questions, half-jokingly and half-seriously. Law students can get weird.

Seongwoo shrugs. “I don’t know. If you do, I’m sure Jihoonie would be more than happy to represent you.”

“He would make me plead guilty and leave me to rot in jail,” Woojin says.

“Maybe,” Seongwoo agrees. “If it makes you feel any better, Jihoon told everyone in the group chat the ‘shut the fuck up’ this morning. He woke up because of the spam, apparently.”

Woojin and Seongwoo both wince because a sleep deprived Jihoon isn’t something they would wish unto their worst enemies.

“I wouldn’t worry too much,” Seongwoo says after a few minutes of silence. Woojin’s settled on the kitchen table, mindlessly eating cereal. “Sure, everyone in the department wants to date Jihoon, but nobody’s actually dumb enough to go on a witch hunt after his boyfriend.”

“That’s reassuring,” Woojin says flatly. It comes out more sarcastic than he meant for it to, but Seongwoo doesn’t seem to care.

“Just don’t make him cry,” he snorts. “Then you’ll really have the angry law students at your doorstep.”

“I’ll do my best.” Woojin imagines them coming after him with pitchforks in their hands and shudders.

“Smart choice,” Seongwoo commends.

If only he knew, Woojin thinks.

 

* * *

 

Dating Jihoon is easy—almost frighteningly so.

Nothing in their dynamic changes much. They still go for their daily bubble tea dates, hang out in the library while pretending to study so they can act like they have their lives together, watch movies at either Woojin’s frat house or Jihoon’s apartment (depending on which is more empty)—the only thing that really changes is the fact that sometimes they have to hold hands and pretend to be, well, _in love_.

“We should draw some boundaries,” Jihoon says one night. It’s Friday, and the rest of Woojin’s frat is over at the KSA house. It’s someone’s birthday, Woojin can’t remember who, but neither he nor Jihoon had been feeling up to going out to socialize.

They’re lounging on Woojin’s bed, with half of Jihoon’s body dangling off. Woojin worries for a split second at how red Jihoon’s face is getting from the blood rushing up to his head, but shrugs.

“Boundaries for what?” he asks.

“Like, what we do.” Jihoon holds his arms out and Woojin helps him sit up. “We hold hands and stuff, yeah. But what about kissing and shit?”

“Kissing and shit,” Woojin repeats flatly. “You really have a way with words, Jihoon.”

Jihoon sticks his tongue out. “Shut up. So, boundaries?”

Woojin hesitates. Up until now, the most they’ve done is hold hands and hug. Sometimes they cuddle while watching movies, but other than that it’s been simple, affectionate touches—just enough for people to not question them.

(Not that anyone would; Jihoon’s a good actor, Woojin comes to learn.)

Kissing, though, is a dangerous territory, Woojin thinks, and he’s not quite sure if he’s ready to even think about that, yet.

“I don’t know,” he says, finally, after a long silence. “Kissing would be a bit much, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah,” Jihoon agrees. “I just wanted to make sure we’re on the same page, you know?” He wrinkles his nose. “You’re cute, Woojin, I’ll give you that, but I’m not sure if I want to kiss you, you know?”

“I know.” Woojin slumps in relief, glad that he and Jihoon are on the same page.

“Maybe kisses on the cheek,” Jihoon muses out loud. “Seongwoo hyung dishes those out to everyone like it’s nothing.”

Woojin grimaces because it’s true. He’s been on the receiving end more times than he can count, and while he loves his hyung, he can do without the random kisses that make people stare at them weirdly more often than not.

“Kisses on the cheek,” Woojin agrees to draw the line there. “Nothing more.”

“Nothing more,” Jihoon confirms, and they go back to lounging around lazily as much as they can before the shitstorm that are midterms.

 

* * *

 

“So, how’s the married life?”

Woojin looks up from his tacos in confusion. It’s Sungwoon and Daniel, the latter grinning down at him like always while Sungwoon has an eyebrow raised primly.

“I’m not married,” Woojin replies a little dumbly.

Sungwoon rolls his eyes and sits on the seat across from Woojin’s, with Daniel sitting next to his boyfriend. “That’s not what I’m hearing from like, everyone around us.”

Woojin squints. “What do you mean.”

“Youngmin hyung told me Jihoon sleeps in your bed more often than he sleeps in his own,” Daniel fills Woojin in. “Donghyun said he saw Jihoon leaving your room the other morning to go to class. Mark is convinced Jihoon rushed without him knowing.”

“Daehwi complains about you only hanging out with Jihoon these days,” Sungwoon continues where Daniel left off.

“Daehwi only hangs out with Jinyoung,” Woojin protests weakly.

Sungwoon pauses. “That’s true. Woong says he barely sees you anymore, too, though.”

Woojin winces. They’re right. He and Jihoon had been hanging out more and more these past couple of weeks. A day doesn’t go by when he doesn’t see Jihoon at least once, and they’re always messaging each other if they’re not together.

“You two are a little married,” Daniel informs Woojin. “It’s cute, though. You guys are cute. I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thank you,” Woojin says hesitantly, feeling uneasy at the way Daniel beams at him. He feels the guilt start clawing at his insides and he gulps. “Thanks,” Woojin repeats for himself, but Daniel and Sungwoon smile at him all the same, unaware of the thoughts racing through Woojin’s head.

 

* * *

 

Donghyun and Woong raise their eyebrows when they find Woojin chilling in the living room with his homework spread out in front of him, the TV playing in the background.

“Where’s Jihoon?” Donghyun asks as he and Woong flop onto the couch. Donghyun grabs the remote and flips through the channels, seemingly unsatisfied with the shows that are on. “Are you watching anything?”

“Nope.” Woojin shakes his head. “I just needed some background noise. Feel free to turn on whatever.”

Donghyun hums in thanks and scrolls through Netflix to see if there’s anything worth watching. “So, Jihoon?”

“Out with his friends from the law department.” Woojin shrugs. “We’re not attached at the hip, you know.”

“Sure, you’re not,” Donghyun snorts. “You’re just together for most of your waking moments.”

“And when you’re sleeping,” Woong pipes up.

“I hate you guys,” Woojin says, with feeling.

Woong laughs while Donghyun lightly hits Woojin’s head with the remote.

“Seriously, though.” Woong purses his lips as Donghyun chooses a random movie and lets it play in the background. It’s not like anyone will be paying attention to it, anyways. “You haven’t been around, these days. We missed you. Kind of.”

“Speak for yourself,” Donghyun interjects. “I didn’t miss this little menace at all.”

Woojin drops his pen and turns around to face Donghyun, an incredibly offended look on his face.

“Hyung!” Woojin complains, and Donghyun laughs loudly.

“I’m kidding.” Donghyun chuckles. “I missed you, Woojin. How were your midterms?”

Midterms were almost three weeks ago, and Woojin feels a pang of guilt. Has he really been neglecting his other friends that much? It doesn’t seem like he has, because even when he’s with Jihoon, they’re usually with a group of people.

Though, he admits, Woojin can’t remember when the last time he hung out with someone without Jihoon was.

“Midterms… went.” Woojin offers. “They were… yes.”

“Mood,” Woong mumbles, and Donghyun snorts.

“We’re thinking about having a slumber party this weekend,” Donghyun tells Woojin.

“Who is we?” Woojin squints a little.

“Probably just the four of us. Five, if you decide to join. Mark is going home to go see his boyfriend, and Jonghyun hyung is sleeping over at Minki hyung’s place, I think.”

“Are you guys aware that we literally live together?” Woojin deadpans.

Both Woong and Donghyun throw the couch cushions at him, but Woojin dodges them easily enough. “That’s not the point here, you absolute menace. We’re planning on clearing out the living room and sleeping here. It’ll be like camping minus the bugs and wilderness and stuff.” Donghyun scowls.

Woojin laughs. “I want to join. Am I going to get an invite in the mail?” he asks jokingly.

“Suddenly you’re not invited,” Donghyun declares. “I’m going to let everyone know that you are banned from attending our slumber party.”

“Woong hyung will let me in, right?” Woojin turns to Woong, who raises an eyebrow in response. “Hyung! Tell him that you’d let me in!”

“Suddenly I can’t hear, I don’t know,” Woong says, snickering when Woojin lunges towards him with a whine.

He decides to make himself comfortable on the couch, snuggling between Woong and Donghyun, who indulge him by throwing their arms around his shoulders. It’s a different feeling from when he’s cuddling with Jihoon. Woojin feels protected with his hyungs by his side, coddling him despite the fact that they literally haven’t seen him in weeks.

“Sorry I haven’t been around much,” Woojin says quietly. “I didn’t even realize until Sungwoon hyung and Daniel hyung brought it up the other day when I was eating lunch.”

Woong and Donghyun exchange looks over Woojin’s head.

“We’re kidding, you know that, right?” Donghyun sighs and rests his head on top of Woojin’s. “I’m happy for you. We’re all happy for you.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry about us, Woojin.” Woong affectionately ruffles Woojin’s hair, much to the younger’s dismay. “What kind of friends would we be if we kept you from hanging out with your boyfriend?”

“I guess,” Woojin says. “I’ll try to, you know, be around more.”

“You’re a brat,” Donghyun tells him affectionately. “It’s really okay, Woojin. It’s not like Daehwi isn’t gone most of the time because he’s with Jinyoung, too, you know.”

Yeah, Woojin thinks silently, but the difference is that Daehwi and Jinyoung are actually in love. He and Jihoon on the other hand…

“You’re going to get wrinkles,” Woong whispers and leans in to smooth out the lines between Woojin’s eyebrows. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m always here to talk, okay?”

He whispers this quietly enough so that Donghyun, who is surprisingly invested in the random movie he’s turned on, doesn’t catch it. Woojin feels a surge of affection for Woong, who let’s his hand fall to gently rest at the juncture between Woojin’s neck and shoulder.

Woojin leans into the touch and gives his hyung a small smile. “I know. Thanks, hyung.”

“Of course,” Woong replies. “Anything for you. For all of you.”

 

* * *

 

The first time they kiss, it’s when nobody’s around to even witness it. They’re hanging out in Jihoon’s living room, pretending to be studying once more when all they’re doing is fucking around on the internet. Woojin has a random dance video open while Jihoon’s trying to beat the high score on some Pac-Man rip-off he found online.

“I’m hungry,” Jihoon declares when he’s finally tired of getting killed by the alien things. “Feed me.”

“No,” Woojin replies distractedly. He’s not even paying attention to the video; he’s at the state of mind where he’s trying to focus really hard on something, which prevents him from focusing at all.

It’s hard, being a student, he laments.

He knows Jihoon is pouting even before he mumbles a quiet, “Meanie,” and Woojin holds back a snort. He doesn’t mind it, because he knows it’s because he’s tired, but Jihoon has been more clingy than usual these days. Woojin attributes it to the sudden load of assignments his professors have piled on top of him, so he lets Jihoon hang off his arm and bury his head into the crook of Woojin’s neck without complaint.

“What do you want to eat?” Woojin asks, finally pausing the video. “I don’t feel like going out.”

“We can just order delivery.” Jihoon shrugs, not moving from his current position of being a koala and clinging onto Woojin. “I’m not craving anything in particular. What about you?”

Woojin hums. “Pizza?”

“Okay,” Jihoon agrees. “Let me go get the menu and we can split the bill?”

“I’ll pay this time,” Woojin says. “You paid for dinner the other day.”

Jihoon pauses, trying to remember. Woojin can’t even blame him for forgetting something that literally happened like, three days ago. The entire week has been a huge blur that molded into one, and Woojin’s honestly not even sure of what day it is today.

“Did I?” Jihoon has a frown on his face. “I can’t even remember what I did this morning.”

“You harassed me into going to the library with you only to say you were to lazy to go out when I came to pick you up,” Woojin reminds him like the little shit is because, well, he can. “I can’t believe you made me leave my bed.”

Jihoon snorts. “Yeah, but now you get to spend your day with me, and how great is that?”

“Not that great,” Woojin reassures his friend. Boyfriend? He doesn’t know. “Don’t be too full of yourself. I could be in bed, watching anime, and yet here I am, studying on,” he checks his phone to make sure of the day, “a Saturday. How dare you, Park Jihoon.”

Jihoon just shrugs uncaringly, the brat. “It be like that, sometimes. So, what toppings do you want?”

“Anything but pineapple,” Woojin says immediately.

“Hawaiian it is,” replies Jihoon.

“You’re a menace,” Woojin gripes, and Jihoon gives him a wicked grin. “An absolute menace.”

“I know.”

They settle down once the pizza is ordered in order to get _some_ work done. That lasts for exactly two minutes before they’re wrestling, arguing about something stupid again. Woojin doesn’t even remember what they’re arguing about, because he’s too busy laughing and listening to Jihoon’s laughter that sounds like bells and—

He doesn’t know who leaned in first. All he knows that suddenly Jihoon’s lips are on his and they’re kind of chapped but they’re so _soft_ and Woojin decides that thinking is overrated. He wraps his arms around Jihoon’s waist and brings him closer, angling his head so that he can kiss the law student better.

When they part, it’s silent. The ticking of the clock is all Woojin can hear and he hopes that Jihoon can’t feel how hard his heart is beating.

Jihoon breaks the silence with a quiet, “Um,” and Woojin swallows.

“Um,” he repeats, because he doesn’t know what to say. Woojin is bad with words on a good day, and this? This really doesn’t help his short-circuiting brain. “So.”

The saying ‘saved by the bell’ has never rang so true for either of them, and Jihoon quite literally jumps off when his doorbell rings.

Woojin scrambles up as well, not forgetting to grab his wallet in his haze and bumps Jihoon out of the way so that he can pay for their pizza.

He gives the exact change to their delivery man and sets the pizza boxes on Jihoon’s dining table. The silence is suffocating and awkward in a way it’s never been before between them, and Woojin doesn’t really know what to say.

“I got two, because you don’t like Hawaiian, but I don’t really like barbeque,” Jihoon says quietly, fiddling with a loose thread on his sweater. “I’ll pay for half of it.”

“No, it’s fine,” Woojin manages to say without his voice breaking. “I said I’d pay, didn’t I?” Woojin knows Jihoon’s going to protest, so he pushes Jihoon’s forehead lightly with two fingers. “Seriously, Jihoon. It’s fine.”

“Okay.” Jihoon is hesitant to agree but he quickly shrugs it off. Free food is free food. “Thanks, Woojin.”

“You’re, uh, welcome.” And just like that, the awkward silence is back. Jihoon flits around the kitchen, setting up the table so that they can eat, and Woojin stands there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. “Do you have anything to drink?”

Jihoon glances at him for a second before turning back to the cabinets in search of clean plates. “There should be some soda in the refrigerator. It’s Jinyoung’s, but he stole my leftovers the other night so we’re even.”

Woojin snorts and takes out two cans of soda and sets them on the table. Jihoon has managed to miraculously find two, clean plates that aren’t chipped around the edges. He even pulls out a roll of paper towel out of nowhere, and Woojin must say he is impressed at how put together he and Jinyoung seems to be.

“Don’t be fooled,” Jihoon warns him when Woojin eyes the paper towel impressively. “We only have this because one of Jinyoung’s friends came over the other week piss drunk and missed the toilet when he was throwing up. I told Jinyoung that if he ruins another one of my towels I’d kill him, so he went and bought a bunch of paper towels.”

Woojin laughs and Jihoon smiles. The awkwardness from earlier has effectively dissipated and they’re back to sniping each other with snarky comments and recounting other embarrassing, drunk episodes of themselves and their friends.

“We’ve made it an executive decision to never let Youngmin hyung around Jager,” Woojin informs him in between their peals of laughter. “It took us over two hours to get him to come down the roof without breaking his neck.”

“They seem to get stuck on top of something pretty often,” Jihoon observes. “Didn’t you tell me Donghyun hyung got stuck in a tree on our blind date?”

Woojin pauses, then, “I can’t believe you’re bringing up that failure of a day. In front of me. Really, Jihoon?” he asks in a betrayed tone.

Jihoon has to stifle down his laughter. “What do you mean failure of a day? Did you mean the fact that you thought I was your blind date, when it was Daniel hyung? Or maybe—”

“Okay, stop,” Woojin whines and throws a crumpled paper towel in Jihoon’s direction. “We got something good out of it, didn’t we?”

“That’s true.” Jihoon grins. “I’m glad you were my blind date that day, Woojin.”

There’s something that starts stirring in the pit of Woojin’s stomach at the way Jihoon smiles at him. It’s a dangerous territory that they’re starting to tread on, and the rational part of Woojin knows they should probably talk about this—whatever _this_ is—but he doesn’t bring it up. Instead, he just smiles back at Jihoon, softening when Jihoon’s eyes light up.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “Me too, Jihoon.”

 

* * *

 

“I am having a mid-life crisis,” Woojin declares unceremoniously when the five of them are gathered around the small coffee table in the living room, shoving each other to get the last piece of chicken. There’s a Marvel movie playing in the background, and Woojin loves Marvel, but he doesn’t even know what’s playing because all he can think about is Jihoon and his smile and his eyes and—

“You’re like 12,” Youngmin informs him helpfully.

“I’m 21,” Woojin replies flatly.

“Same thing.” Youngmin waves his hand dismissively. “The point is, you’re not going through your mid-life crisis yet. Save that for when you’re a senior with no idea what the future holds for you.”

He says this with a sort of sob and Woojin pats his hyung’s back sympathetically, not knowing what to do.

“What is your mid-life crisis about this time?” Donghyun asks, sighing when he realizes he has to be the adult this time around.

“Jihoon and I kissed,” Woojin admits, then slams his mouth shut because, fuck, he forgot that his friends think they’re dating for real.

Daehwi narrows his eyes at Woojin, wheels starting to turn in his brain. “You two are dating,” he reminds Woojin. “That is a thing people do when they date, in case you forgot.”

“Sometimes I forget how inept Woojin is when it comes to feelings,” Woong comments as he quickly steals the last piece of chicken while everyone is distracted. Daehwi lets out a shout of anger but Woong has already shoved half of the chicken into his mouth, a triumphant smile on his face as he chews.

“I will say I was pretty surprised when the two of you came clean.” Youngmin directs a frown in Woojin’s direction. “You always seemed pretty adamant when it came to denying it when we asked.”

Woojin winces. “Uh, well, I wasn’t sure where we stood, I guess?” he offers. “I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” he lies.

“That’s fair.” Donghyun nods. “I mean, Jihoon is Jihoon, and you’re, well. You’re a brat.”

“Jihoon is a bigger brat than I am,” Woojin complains. “And hey! Shouldn’t you be defending me? We’re literally pledge brothers.”

Donghyun sniffs, chewing on a radish. “Our relationship is strictly business, Woojin. No hard feelings, right?”

Woojin pouts and Daehwi rolls his eyes.

“So, why are you freaking out about the fact that you and your _boyfriend_ ,” Daehwi emphasizes the boyfriend, “kissed? It’s not like it’s your first time kissing anyone.”

“I don’t know.” Woojin shrugs half-heartedly, regretting everything since the second he brought this up. “It’s been a while since I dated, I guess.”

“Hm.” Daehwi doesn’t look convinced but he lets it drop.

Woojin is quick to switch the subject, asking the group about Mark’s whereabouts. Youngmin helpfully informs him that they haven’t seen Mark in a couple of days because he’s too busy being gross with his boyfriend who transferred to their university.

“Ah, young love,” Donghyun sighs wistfully. “Must be nice to have someone that devoted to you.”

Daehwi squints. “You literally declared that you were never going to settle down so that you wouldn’t be, and I quote, _shackled by the con that is love_.”

Donghyun waves his comment away. “People change, Daehwi. It’s the way of life. It’s how we, as humans, grow and learn.”

“That was this morning,” interjects Woong. “You said it this morning at breakfast.”

“People change,” Donghyun hisses.

“Sure, they do,” Youngmin agrees amicably, rolling his eyes. “Eat your radish, kids.”

Woojin snorts at his friends, wondering what he was thinking when he decided to rush for this dysfunctional frat.

 

* * *

 

Jihoon slams his book down in the spot in front of Woojin’s and says, “We should talk.”

Woojin is immediately reminded of when Jihoon brought up the stupid proposal of fake dating that Woojin agreed to for some reason and raises an eyebrow. “Do you have another stupid proposal, because if you do then I don’t want to hear it.”

“No.” Jihoon scowls. “And you’re the one who agreed, so who’s the stupid one now?”

“Fair point,” Woojin concedes. “What’s up?”

This is when Woojin notices Jihoon’s hesitation and immediately knows what the latter wants to talk about.

“You know,” Jihoon begins a little awkwardly. “The… yeah.”

It’s a little endearing to see how shy and awkward Jihoon is being about their kiss but this is not the time for Woojin to tease the law student, so he just clears his throat. “The kiss?”

“Yes, that.” Jihoon turns pink and looks away, avoiding eye contact. “The kiss,” he chokes out.

“What about it?” Woojin sees how nervous Jihoon is and decides to take the lead in the conversation that he really doesn’t want to have. He’s never really seen Jihoon like this. He’s only seen Jihoon be loud, snarky, and demanding—hiding behind the walls he has up for some reason, but walls that Woojin is slowly but surely starting to tear down.

“Are we going to do it again?” Jihoon asks quietly, resolutely avoiding looking at Woojin in the face. “I thought we set our boundaries.”

“Yeah, we did,” Woojin says. “But then you kissed me, so.”

Jihoon’s jaw drops. “What? _You_ kissed _me_!” he hisses. Quietly, though, because they’re at the library and technically they’re supposed to be dating for real.

“Okay, that’s not the point here.” Woojin still isn’t sure who kissed who first, but he decides in the end it doesn’t matter because the fact is, they still kissed each other. “This is awkward.”

“Your fault,” Jihoon grumbles. “So?”

“So?” Woojin mimics. “What?”

“Answer my question, asshole,” Jihoon hisses, and he’s back. Woojin hides his laughter and shrugs.

“I don’t know,” Woojin admits. “It was… weird,” he says, for a lack of better word.

Jihoon looks offended. “I’ll have you know that I’ve been told I’m a good kisser on more than one occasion.”

“No, not like that, dumbass.” Woojin rolls his eyes because really, Jihoon is so stupid. “I meant it was weird kissing you. But it wasn’t… bad. Just weird. I don’t know. I’m not making any sense. I haven’t slept in like, 36 hours.”

Jihoon frowns. “You should get some sleep.”

“I only had coffee for breakfast this morning,” Woojin says instead. “And a Red-bull like, thirty minutes ago.”

“You should get some sleep,” repeats Jihoon, with feeling. “But it wasn’t bad. Kissing you, I mean. Not your horrible caffeine intakes and sleep schedule.”

“Okay,” Woojin says, effectively concluding the conversation. They haven’t exactly decided if the kissing thing was going to be a regular thing or not, but Woojin supposes they’ll go with the flow like they always do. “Okay.”

When Jihoon hesitantly takes his hand later that day as they leave the library to grab something to eat for the sake of Woojin’s health, Woojin wonders when the little touches that were for show turned into something they do on a regular basis, even when nobody is watching them.

 

* * *

 

There’s some confusion that always comes when dealing with and contemplating your feelings. It’s one of the main reasons why Woojin prefers to just, not do that. But here he is, on a Wednesday afternoon: laying face down on his bed and doing just that.

“Yo, Daehwi and I are going to go grab something to eat.” Mark, Woojin assumes from the voice, pokes his head in. “You want anything?”

“I’m good,” Woojin replies. It comes out a little muffled because his face is buried into his pillow. “Thanks, though.”

“Okay,” Mark says slowly. “You okay, dude?”

“Just peachy.” Woojin sighs deeply. “Just peachy.”

“You’re being weird,” Mark informs him, as if Woojin doesn’t already know.

“Thank you, Mark.” Woojin wants to roll his eyes but he can’t in his current position. “Eat well. I hope Daehwi chokes.”

“I’ll get it on camera if he does,” Mark promises, and Woojin snorts.

Some time passes after that and Woojin is left in silence to think about his feelings-but-not-feelings for Jihoon when he’s interrupted by Mark once again. Woojin raises an eyebrow at the to-go bag of burgers Mark has in his hands but welcomes him anyways.

Free food is the best food, after all.

“Daehwi said you’ve been moping like, all week so we just grabbed it to-go and he left to hang out with Jinyoung.” Mark shrugs as he explains. “Figured I might as well play therapist this time since Hyuck is in class.”

“Thanks?” Woojin doesn’t know if he should be grateful or not. “How are you and Donghyuck, by the way? It almost scares me how well he gets along with Daehwi.”

Mark grimaces. “Dude, I know. It scares me too. Sometimes I kind of regret introducing them to each other. But we’re good. I think we’re going to find an apartment to stay together next year.”

“You’re moving out of the house?” Woojin asks as he takes a fry from the bag. “We’ll miss you.”

Mark shrugs. “I don’t know. We just kind of mentioned it in passing but we haven’t really discussed it in detail yet. We’ll see, I guess.”

Woojin hums and nods in thought. “How did you know?” he finally gathers the courage to ask. Mark is safe territory, Woojin decides. He’ll actually give advice without the judgement he’d probably get from everyone else and the anger he’ll get from Daehwi.

“Know what?” Mark is staring at him weirdly. “You’re going to have to be more specific than that, Woojin.”

“How did you know when you, you know, liked Donghyuck?” Woojin asks quietly.

Mark stares at him. “Is this why you’ve been moping all week?” he questions, then pauses. “Wait, aren’t you and Jihoon literally dating?”

Woojin heaves a heavy sigh. “It’s a long story.” He opts for the shorter route of not explaining to Mark exactly what’s going on.

That has Mark staring at him suspiciously. “If I answer your question, do you promise to answer mine? Instead of avoiding it?”

“… Sure.” Woojin agrees reluctantly.

“I just always kind of knew,” Mark reveals. “We grew up together, but you already know that from my many drunken ramblings. There wasn’t a time when I didn’t like him, you know?”

Woojin doesn’t know, but let’s Mark continue.

“It’s always been him.” Mark shrugs as if it isn’t a big deal, but Woojin knows it is from the way Mark’s eyes shine from just talking about Donghyuck. “I can’t imagine being with anybody else.”

“That’s gay,” Woojin says. “And painfully cute. I hate you.”

“Hey, you asked.” Mark defends himself. “Okay, my turn. What’s going on? Are you and Jihoon not dating?”

“That’s two questions,” Woojin says weakly. “You can’t tell anyone, okay?”

Mark holds out a pinky. “I pinky swear,” he says solemnly. Woojin rolls his eyes but indulges his friend anyways.

“We’re not _dating_ dating,” Woojin finally reveals, glad to have gotten that off his chest. It’s been there for a while, suffocating him slowly.

Mark looks confused, and rightfully so. “What the heck does that even mean?”

“We’re not dating for real,” Woojin clarifies. “It’s not real. Our relationship.” Saying that out loud doesn’t leave that bitter of a taste as Woojin expected it to. In fact, it just makes his head clear and he realizes that he’s been moping over something stupid.

“What.” Mark stares at him like Woojin grew two heads. “What the fuck?”

“I know.” Woojin winces. “I can explain, though.”

“Please do,” Mark says flatly. “And eat your burger. You look like you haven’t eaten in days.”

Woojin takes a bite out of the burger offered to him and swallows before he starts his explanation. “Okay, so you know how Jihoon is like really fucking popular on campus?”

“Yes.” Mark nods. “I wonder if people know that he is actually Satan.”

“Same,” Woojin agrees without hesitation. “Anyways, a lot of his asshole suitors kept harassing him when we were out, and I pretended to be his boyfriend to get them off our backs so that we could, you know, get shit done, but then rumors spread, and yeah.”

He trails off at the end and Mark stares at him in surprise. “Oh, wow.” He pauses. “ _Dude_.”

“I know.” Woojin sighs. He’s been doing that a lot lately. “Anyways, yeah. That happened. And then we like, sort of kind of kissed the other week, and now I’m confused.”

“Do you like him?” Mark asks slowly, like he’s worried Woojin will bolt if he’s too forward.

Woojin bites his bottom lip. “I don’t know. As a friend? Definitely. As something more than that? I’m not sure.”

“Well.” Mark looks floored, and Woojin doesn’t blame him. “I don’t know what to say, to be honest, other than be smart.”

“That is a lot to ask of me.”

“I know.” Mark smirks. “But try your best. I believe in you. And hey, if anything, talking to Jihoon about whatever the heck you guys are doing might help. I can’t believe you guys aren’t dating for real, though. It’s so gross watching you two interact, and I’m friends with Jaemin and Jeno.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing that from you.” Woojin deadpans. “You and Donghyuck are so gross and in love that I have to resist the urge to rinse my eyes with bleach whenever I see you two together.”

“You should see the way you and Jihoon are, first,” Mark informs him. Woojin frowns and is about to ask Mark what he’s talking about when Mark’s phone lights up with a message. “Oh, Hyuck’s out of class. I gotta bounce. Will you be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Tell Donghyuck I said hi.” Woojin waves Mark away. “Take your trash with you, please.”

Mark gathers up the empty wrappers and even takes Woojin’s for him. “Text me if you need anything. Bye, Woojin.”

Woojin waves and flops facedown onto his bed again when Mark leaves. Getting things off his chest definitely helped but Woojin is still left with the million-dollar question:

What the hell are he and Jihoon doing?

 

* * *

 

“Are Jihoon and I that gross together?” Woojin asks out loud on accident. Daehwi and Jinyoung both look up from their respective laptops and stare at Woojin as if he’s an idiot.

“Yes,” Jinyoung doesn’t even bother trying to sugarcoat anything. “You guys are kind of disgusting to see, to be honest.”

“Yeah.” Daehwi, surprisingly, agrees. “I had my reservations in the beginning, if I’m being honest. I thought you guys were trying to pull something, but I guess not.”

Woojin is silent for a second. “What do you mean?”

Daehwi just turns back to work on his essay. “I thought you guys were just pretending to date to get Jihoon hyungs annoying admirers off his back,” he reveals when Woojin lightly kicks him in the shin for an explanation. “You know, like that one time you talked about it back at the house.”

“Huh?” Jinyoung looks confused, but neither Daehwi nor Woojin indulge him in any explanations.

“But the more I watched you guys, the more I realized I was wrong,” Daehwi finishes with an uncaring shrug. “Even I can be wrong sometimes, I guess.”

“You’re wrong a lot of times,” Woojin points out weakly, unwilling to admit this is one of the times the younger is not wrong. “What convinced you?”

Daehwi looks up from his essay with a sigh, raising his eyebrow. “I wish you could see how the two of you are around each other. It’s almost sickeningly cute.”

“You have his coffee order memorized,” Jinyoung says. “If that isn’t romance, I don’t know what is.”

“You also know his schedule better than you know your own,” Daehwi points out. “We still have to remind you to get to class sometimes, but you’re the one always reminding Jihoon to get to class on time and remember his deadlines.”

Woojin stays quiet. He hasn’t even realized.

“Anyways, bottom line is, you guys are gross, yes,” Daehwi shrugs, “but it’s not a bad thing. I’m glad you’re happy, hyung.”

Woojin purses his lips but doesn’t say anything. He silently picks up his pen to start doing his work again, missing the thoughtful look Daehwi gives him.

 

* * *

 

They kiss again, some time after Woojin comes to terms that whatever they’re doing is going in a direction neither of them expected it to. It’s not as short or sweet like last time. There’s more tongue involved, and Woojin’s kind of worried that his shirt’s going to rip from how tightly Jihoon clutches at it.

Woojin has Jihoon under him on the couch in Jihoon’s living room, and they both pray that Jinyoung doesn’t show up unannounced.

It’s rough. Nothing about this kiss is sweet or hesitant and when Woojin inhales, all he can smell is Jihoon.

It kind of scares Woojin.

But he doesn’t stop, and neither does Jihoon. In fact, the latter encourages it by moving so that his arms are wrapped around Woojin’s neck, pulling him in closer.

Woojin thinks his heart is going to burst out of his chest.

He leans back, stuttered breaths coming out of his mouth. Jihoon’s face is flushed and his eyes are glassy. Woojin wonders if he looks the same.

Neither of them say anything, but Woojin blinks and they’re kissing again, and he decides not to think. They can deal with the aftermath later and really, _really_ talk about reestablishing some boundaries this time.

But for now, Woojin chooses to revel in the way Jihoon fingers card through Woojin’s hair and the way he gasps when Woojin’s hands find their way under Jihoon’s shirt.

They part and jump away when they hear someone (Jinyoung, probably) unlocking the door from the outside. Woojin quickly smooths out his hair and shirt and sees Jihoon doing the same from his peripheral view. There’s nothing that can be done about their swollen lips, though, Woojin muses when he gets a glimpse of Jihoon’s.

A quick glance at the clock tells him that they’ve been on the couch making out for the past half-hour, and Woojin marvels at how fast time can go by.

“I’m home,” Jinyoung announces, as if they wouldn’t know from how loud he is. “Oh, Woojin hyung. You’re here.”

He blinks and squints at their disheveled figures before making a disgusted face.

“Um,” Jihoon says intelligently.

“That is our _couch_ ,” Jinyoung hisses in anger. “I can’t believe this.”

Woojin shrugs, glad that there won’t be any lingering weirdness for the time being, thanks to Jinyoung’s presence. “It is what it is, Jinyoung.”

He and Jihoon get a laugh at Jinyoung’s squawk of indignation, hands finding each other’s and fingers lacing together. Woojin wonders what this means.

That’s enough thinking for now, Woojin tells himself when Jihoon squeezes his hand.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, we seriously need to talk.” It’s Woojin who brings it up this time. “What are we doing?” he blurts out without warning.

Jihoon stops in his quest of trying to grab a peach milk from the top of the shelf. Woojin sighs and steps up to help him. “We’re pretending to have our lives together by grocery shopping?”

“What?” Woojin blinks. “No, I meant what are we _doing_?” He emphasizes the last word, hoping Jihoon is smart enough to see where he’s getting at without him having to actually explain it with his own mouth.

“Oh.” The realization flickers in Jihoon’s eyes, and the law student shrugs. “I don’t know. You tell me, Woojin.”

It’s an opening, Woojin realizes, to stop this before it gets out of hand. Not that it hasn’t, already. They’ve made out again after that day on Jihoon’s couch. They’ve made out a lot, now that Woojin thinks about it.

“I don’t know either,” Woojin admits. “Are we dating for real? Do you even like me like that?”

Jihoon hesitates, then answers honestly, “I don’t know.”

Woojin lets out a sigh of relief. At least he’s not confused alone. He’s kind of glad that Jihoon is just as lost as he is. “Okay. Same.”

“I like you,” Jihoon says, “but at the same time I don’t know if I like you like that? Does that even make sense?”

“It does, but only because I’m the same.” Woojin stifles a sigh from escaping. “I don’t think anyone else would know what you’re saying, though.”

“This is weird.” Jihoon steers them towards the direction of the cash register, choosing to use the self-checkouts so that they won’t have to make small talk with the cashier.

“You’re weird,” Woojin says almost instinctively before he can even stop himself. “Oops. Continue, please.”

Jihoon lets out a fond sigh. “You’re an idiot,” he says affectionately. “We can talk about this somewhere more private. Jinyoung went back home for the weekend to visit his family. Do you want to go to my place?”

There’s some hesitation in his voice as Jihoon asks that, and Woojin know why. They always seem to get carried away and their one-on-one interactions always end up in a make-out session, these days.

“Okay,” Woojin says. “Keep your hands to yourself though, you rat.”

“How dare you,” Jihoon says mildly. “You’re the one who can’t seem to keep your hands off of me.”

Woojin laughs and helps Jihoon carry the groceries. He’s not sure if he can even call it that, because all Jihoon bought was some snacks and drinks. Nothing on his shopping list made it into the cart and Woojin kind of worries for his and Jinyoung’s pantry.

“So.” Jihoon plops himself onto his bed. “We should talk about this.”

“Yes, that is what I said back at the store.” Woojin rolls his eyes and sits on Jihoon’s chair. He sits so that he can rest his arms on the backrest and rests his chin on his arms. “What are we doing, Jihoon?”

Jihoon sighs. “I wish I knew. This got a little out of hand, didn’t it?”

“Just a bit, yeah.” Woojin agrees without the sarcasm he wants to add. Now is not the time. “This isn’t what I was expecting when I agreed to be your fake boyfriend.”

Jihoon grimaces. “This isn’t exactly what I had in mind, either, to be honest.”

“Well, at least we are both on the same page.” Woojin sighs. “Maybe we should… stop?” He voices that hesitantly, because at this point, Woojin is still not sure if he wants them to stop completely. Selfish of him, he knows, but Woojin likes Jihoon. He also enjoys kissing Jihoon, not that he’d ever admit it.

“Maybe?” Jihoon gulps. “Is it bad that I kind of don’t want to?” he squeaks out, immediately hiding his face in shame. Woojin can see his red ears poking out and his heart grows warm at how cute the sight is, but then his last brain cell processes what Jihoon has just said.

Well, damn.

“Um.” Woojin scrambles to find his words. “No? I don’t know. I kind of don’t want to stop either? It’s nice. Kissing you is nice.” He snaps his mouth shut and feels himself flush when Jihoon looks up at him in shock. “I’m going to shut up now before I embarrass myself.”

“You already embarrassed yourself enough,” Jihoon says, sounding a little dazed. “I like kissing you too, if that counts for anything.”

“Oh.” That really makes Woojin shut up. “I’m, um, glad, I guess.”

They avoid looking at each other and Woojin thinks he’s going to combust. Park Woojin was made for many things, but he was not made to deal with feelings in any shape or form whatsoever.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Jihoon asks nervously. His eyes are still darting around his room, deadest on not looking at Woojin.

Woojin gulps and decides to take the leap. It’s clear Jihoon is waiting for him to confirm or deny something—what it is, Woojin doesn’t know, but he decides that he’s done thinking and just let’s himself go with the flow.

That’s what got them in this predicament in the first place, but Woojin’s never been one to make smart decisions, anyways.

He cups Jihoon’s face and leans in, letting his lips linger for a second before pulling away. He stares at Jihoon, waiting for him to make the next move. He’d leave the decision up to the law student. They had started this for his sake, anyways.

The decision comes after a moment of careful deliberation on Jihoon’s part. He leans in and connects their lips once more, pulling Woojin in closer until they tumble down onto Jihoon’s bed. The kiss is slow. It’s not the rushed, heated make-out sessions they have in the corner of the library or Woojin’s bedroom. It’s almost lazy, the way their lips move languidly against each other’s.

It’s kind of nice, Woojin thinks.

With Jinyoung gone for the weekend, there’s nobody to interrupt them this time. Woojin doesn’t know how long they’ve been laying there, kissing, but suddenly he has Jihoon pinned under him, with the law student’s hands under his shirt, exploring.

The kiss turns heated fast and Woojin feels like he’s going to explode from the feelings.

“We should stop,” Jihoon mumbles against Woojin’s lips, but makes no real move to stop. His hands are still under Woojin’s shirt, fingers dancing against Woojin’s back, making his breath hitch.

“Yeah,” Woojin murmurs in agreement but he doesn’t move away, either. He can feel the heat radiating off of Jihoon and he feels warm. Almost uncomfortably so.

“Yeah,” Jihoon repeats but does the opposite of what they agreed to do—not that Woojin is complaining. They hold back this time, though, and Woojin cups Jihoon’s jaw gently, as if he’s afraid he’ll break the boy if he isn’t gentle enough.

He knows they need to stop. Woojin is aware that there’s a high possibility of this blowing up in their faces in the near future, but he can’t bring himself to deny Jihoon when the latter pulls Woojin in even closer until there’s not even a millimeter of space between their bodies. He can’t bring himself to say no when Jihoon hooks a leg around Woojin’s waist, and he definitely can’t bring himself to pull away when Jihoon tugs on his hair. Gently enough so that it won’t hurt him, but hard enough to send shivers down Woojin’s spine.

They need to stop. They need to stop before this spirals out of control even more than it already has, but Woojin doesn’t know how to.

And he’s not sure if he wants to.

 

* * *

 

“Here, I got you something.” Mark announces and tosses a something onto Woojin’s desk.

Woojin looks up from where he’s been lounging on his bed, playing a phone game. “What?” he asks in confusion. “Why?”

“I saw this when I was out with Hyuck and thought of you.” Mark shrugs. “Enjoy!”

Woojin is now thoroughly confused, and although he had made it an executive decision to not leave his bed except to go to the bathroom or grab food, curiosity gets the best of him and he makes the brave journey from his bed to his desk to see what Mark had gotten him.

 _Feelings for Dummies_ , the book title reads.

He’s going to kill that stupid Canadian.

 

* * *

 

 **Park Woojin:** I’m going to kill you.

 **Mark Lee:** lol  
**Mark Lee:** ur welcome!

 **Park Woojin:** Die.

 **Mark Lee:** lmao

 

* * *

 

Woojin is a college student, but more importantly, he is in that awkward cusp between being a Millennial and a Gen-Z. He knows that, based on research, he’s technically a Gen-Z, but he likes to think that he’s living in the best of both worlds.

For example, he relates to both generation’s fondness for self-deprecating humor, but he doesn’t like to eat tide-pods for fun.

But that’s not the point here; the point is, Woojin is in that generation where the way they cope with their problems is to ignore it until they can by laughing at dumb memes that nobody but them seems to understand.

And that’s exactly what Woojin does: laugh at the dumb memes he comes across on social media, avoiding Jihoon when the panic of what they’re doing sets in, and decisively ignoring the nagging feeling at the back of his mind, telling him that he really needs to sit the fuck down and sort out his priorities in life.

And talk to Jihoon, while he’s at it, but Woojin ignores that thought process too.

Who would he be, after all, if he actually faced his problems in life without somebody forcing him to face the music?

But that’s what his friends are here for, and a bucket of cold water is dumped on Woojin in the form of Lee Daehwi.

“You look like shit,” Daehwi informs him, as if Woojin needs the reminder. “Why are you avoiding Jihoon hyung? Trouble in paradise already?”

The way he talks makes it seem like Daehwi knows more than he’s letting on, and Woojin studies him for a bit.

“You know,” Woojin realizes. “Since when?”

Daehwi shrugs, taking a seat on the other end of the couch. “Not too long ago. I must say, hyung, you both really have everyone fooled.” He doesn’t sound angry, contrary to Woojin’s worries. A bit disappointed, but Woojin’s expected that.

“Sorry.” Woojin sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It was just to get people to stop harassing Jihoon into going on a date with them.”

“I know,” Daehwi assures him. “It doesn’t explain why you’re avoiding Jihoon hyung, though. It’s kind of sad to look at. He looks like a kicked puppy.”

Woojin wonders how to explain in a way it would make sense. “I like Jihoon,” he says, finally. “But I don’t think I like him like that.”

“Okay.” Daehwi nods. “That makes sense.”

“It does?” Woojin asks in surprise, and Daehwi rolls his eyes.

“Listen, I know we joke around that you’re dumb when it comes to your feelings and that you’re incapable when it comes to talking about them, but you’re not actually _that_ stupid.” Daehwi says this with as much patience as he can, which is not a lot. Woojin knows. Woojin has first-hand experience. “So? Go on. Tell me why you’re avoiding Jihoon hyung instead of talking this out like the responsible adult you’re supposed to be.”

It’s like a dam has opened and Woojin finally let’s out everything he’s been internalizing for the past few weeks. The guilt of lying to everyone’s faces. The confusion that keep Woojin awake at night. The thoughts that have been eating him alive when he’s alone. The worry that everything will blow up in their faces in the worst way possible.

The fear of losing Jihoon.

Daehwi listens without interruption, and at some point in the conversation he’s moved closer to Woojin so that he can take his hyung’s hand in his, squeezing at the right moments to reassure him that yes, it’s okay to keep going, and that yes, Daehwi is still here to listen and hear him out.

“And, yeah.” Woojin finishes lamely. “That’s what’s been going on since we started this whole… thing.”

“I see.” Daehwi is silent, trying to process everything that’s been thrown at him. “Wow. That’s a lot, hyung.”

“I know.”

“You’ve been keeping this bottled in for how long?” Daehwi raises an eyebrow. “Does anybody else know?”

“Mark knows, kind of,” Woojin admits. “I accidentally blurted it out to him. I thought I was going to explode if I didn’t tell someone soon.”

Daehwi whistles. “You’re an idiot.” He summarizes the situation so simply, so _well_ , that Woojin is rendered speechless for a second.

“I know.” Woojin gulps. “I know.”

“But you’re not a bad person,” Daehwi sighs. “And your fears are valid. You’re still an idiot, though. There’s a simple solution to all of this and you know it, right?”

He does. Woojin does know it. But that solution would mean that he actually has to come in terms with and face his feelings for once, and Woojin really doesn’t know if he has the mental capacity to do that.

“Jihoon hyung is emotionally put-together enough for the both of you.” Daehwi interrupts Woojin’s spiraling chain of thoughts with a knowing look. “All you have to do is actually say what’s on your mind.”

“That sounds hard,” Woojin says. “I don’t know if I can do it.”

Daehwi rolls his eyes and slaps Woojin’s thigh. “Well, you can try. You owe that to yourself. And to Jihoon hyung. Are you really going to let this situation ruin your friendship with him?”

The answer is no. There’s no way Woojin would let that happen. Sure, they pushed things a little too far, but Woojin knows if they stop things now they’ll at least be able to salvage their friendship. It’ll be hard, Woojin thinks, but he has faith in Jihoon that they can pull through.

“Go talk to him.” Daehwi gives him one final push. “Soon. Preferably before that hyung decides to kick down our front door to murder you, please. Donghyun hyung would have a fit.”

“I will,” Woojin promises. “I’ll talk to him soon.”

“Good.” Daehwi gives him a satisfied nod. “Does that mean you’re coming to dinner with us tomorrow?”

“Yeah.” Woojin declares to himself that he’s done running away. “I’ll be there.”

He hopes that Jihoon won’t kill him _too_ much for putting him through shit in the past week.

 

* * *

 

Jihoon raises an eyebrow when Woojin walks in the diner, trailing behind Daehwi. “Wow. Look what the cat dragged in.”

There’s no real bite in his tone. In fact, if he squints, Woojin thinks he can see a hint of relief in Jihoon’s eyes.

“Woojin hyung finally crawled out of whatever cave he was dying in and decided to grace us with his presence,” Daehwi explains sarcastically. “Everybody, give him a round of applause, please.”

Both Jihoon and Jinyoung clap solemnly, and Woojin rolls his eyes.

“You guys are all brats,” he informs them.

Daehwi shrugs. “I know.”

Woojin shakes his head in amusement and plops down in the chair next to Jihoon’s, throwing an arm to rest on the backrest of Jihoon’s chair.

Conversations flow easily and Woojin let’s himself forget about his worries for now, focusing on how nice it is to be hanging out with some of his closest friends.

He catches Jinyoung’s eye when Daehwi is in the middle of telling a story and makes a face Woojin _knows_ Daehwi would use for blackmail purposes if he ever caught it on camera. It works, and Jinyoung promptly chokes on his milkshake from the surprise, thumping his chest so that he can breathe.

Daehwi yelps, jumping in surprise and patting his boyfriend on the back when he comes to his sense. Jihoon looks confused as hell and Woojin can’t stop the laughter that shakes his entire body. He laughs even harder when Jinyoung shoots him a betrayed look, making Daehwi narrow his eyes at him and Jihoon stare at him with even more confusion.

This is nice. This is easy. This is how things should be, Woojin thinks.

Finally, it seems like all is well.

Woojin smiles.

 

* * *

 

It isn’t hard to bring the topic up once Woojin’s finally set his mind on ending this weird, ambiguous relationship he and Jihoon had been in.

(Can he even call it a relationship if neither of them _technically_ made anything official? Woojin isn’t sure.)

When he tells Jihoon they need to stop, the law student agrees. It’s almost too easy, and Woojin is kind of suspicious.

“What?” Jihoon throws him a weird look. “Why do you look like you don’t believe me?”

“I don’t know. It just seems too, I don’t know, easy?” Woojin flails a little.

Jihoon just shrugs, not really knowing what to say. “Well, I think we already established a while ago that neither of us like each other like _that_ , right? Isn’t it only natural that the next step we take is to stop things?”

Well. There’s that, then, Woojin supposes.

“Besides,” Jihoon continues, twisting his lips a little. “I think I actually do have somebody that I like. Someone that I  _really_ like.”

This is news to Woojin, and his eyebrows shoot up before he gives Jihoon a mischievous smile. “Oh? And who might that be?”

Jihoon turns pink and shuffles in a nervously. It’s a different type of nervousness, Woojin realizes. This isn’t the same nervous energy Jihoon had when they had discussed their not-relationship. This is a new side of Jihoon that Woojin hasn’t seen before.

He almost looks _shy_.

“Somebody,” Jihoon grumbles unhappily. “I’ll… I’ll tell you when I’m sure of it. I don’t want to say anything yet.”

“That’s fair.” Woojin isn’t going to force his friend to say anything. “So, friends?” He holds a hand out for Jihoon to shake.

Jihoon gives him and his hand a look. “Were we not friends before?”

“Technically we’re breaking up,” Woojin points out with a grin. “Nobody knows this was fake, remember?”

“True.” Jihoon sighs and takes Woojin’s hand, giving it a shake and squeezing it harder than necessary. “You’re an idiot.”

“And that was unnecessary.” Woojin scowls and cradles his hand that’s throbbing with slight pain. “Asshole.”

Jihoon cackles and Woojin smiles as the worries that’s been plaguing him are finally gone and dissipated into the air. He feels like he can breathe for the first time in weeks, and Woojin’s glad his and Jihoon’s friendship has soured at all despite the storm that’s rocked it.

 

* * *

 

Telling their friends that they decided to just remain friends is easier than either of them expected it to be. Daehwi just stares them down and Jinyoung takes it all into stride. Woojin’s frat brothers are surprised but don’t question it when he and Jihoon seem fine.

Seongwoo has a frown on his face when he spots them a couple of days after the announcement but doesn’t confront either of them, opting to continue chatting with Minhyun instead.

It’s kind of scary how fast the news spreads, though. Within days of telling their friends, it seems anyone who cares knows about it.

Ease comes with their relationship finally coming to an end and Woojin is just glad he’s finally allowed to throw Jihoon around like he does with all of his friends again. Jihoon is not happy about this, of course, and retaliates by pinching Woojin’s sides whenever he’s picked up like a sack of flour.

Mark gives Woojin a thumbs up when he sees the pair at the school café. He’s with Donghyuck, who’s chatting animatedly with the barista. Woojin just gives Mark a lazy salute and follows Jihoon to one of the tables.

 **Mark Lee:** heard the news! lmk if u want me to introduce u to some of my friends  
**Mark Lee:** 🤠

 **Park Woojin:** 🖕🏻

 

* * *

 

It’s movie night at Woojin’s frat, and even Jonghyun is here for once. That means Minki is here too, though, which means so are Dongho, Minhyun, and Aron. Seongwoo is here too, for some reason, but Woojin just shrugs since he’s friends with both Jonghyun and Youngmin.

Daehwi invited Jinyoung, too, which means Woojin had been allowed to invite Jihoon, who’s currently debating with Seongwoo about something that happened in their department the other day.

He raises an eyebrow at the way they’re sitting and eyes Jihoon’s cheeks that are a little pinker than usual.

Interesting.

“What are you looking at?” Woong interrupts his train of thoughts when the elder comes and settles in the seat next to Woojin.

“Nothing.” Woojin shakes his head. “What movie are we watching today?”

“Well, Mark and Daehwi had an argument this morning over what to watch, and Mark won, so.” Woong shrugs helplessly. “Your guess is as good as mine. I still can’t figure that kid out, and it’s been two years since I met him.”

Woojin snorts. “So, we’re watching Spider-Man, okay.”

“Spider-Man?” Woong blinks.

“Mark has, like the biggest crush on Spider-Man,” Woojin explains. “It’s actually hilarious. He’ll deny it to the grave, but I have it on good authority that he used a Spider-Man backpack until high school.”

That’s when Mark announces to the group that they’re watching Spider-Man: Homecoming, because that’s what he rented off of YouTube. Woojin and Woong burst out into giggles, ignoring Mark’s confused looks, and laugh even harder when they spot the unhappy expression on Daehwi’s face.

“Daehwi really wanted to watch ‘To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before’,” Woong explains while trying to catch his breath. “I can’t believe Mark actually managed to win that argument.”

The pair dissolve into giggles again and only stop when they’re hit by a pillow thrown by Donghyun, who tells them to shut up since the movie is starting.

Woojin turns to give Woong one last wide smile, eyes sparkling in amusement, and his heart flutters when he sees that Woong is already looking at him with a grin on his face.

He can’t help but wonder if it’d be okay to reach over to take Woong’s hand in his, but it seems that he doesn’t have to worry about it because Woong makes the first move by shuffling closer and laying his head on Woojin’s shoulder.

Woojin freezes but relaxes almost immediately, taking Woong’s hand to play with his fingers as the intro plays on the screen.

“Is this okay?” Woong whispers.

“Yeah,” Woojin whispers back.

They spend the entirety of the movie in that position, separating only when the lights come back on. When Woojin catches Jihoon’s suggestive look, he rolls his eyes and nods towards Seongwoo with a raised eyebrow. He snickers when Jihoon immediately turns pink and looks away.

This is nice, Woojin thinks, when Woong gives a small, “Fuck it,” and takes Woojin’s hand back to hold.

Nobody questions the wide grin Woojin has on his face for the rest of the night.

 

* * *

 

 **Park Jihoon:** so u nd Woong hyung, huh  
**Park Jihoon:** cute

 **Park Woojin:** Shut up  
**Park Woojin:** I can’t believe you have a crush on Seongwoo hyung  
**Park Woojin:** He told me not to make you cry after that first ksa party we went to together  
**Park Woojin:** The irony

 **Park Jihoon:** LMAO  
**Park Jihoon:** stfu  
**Park Jihoon:** when r u gonna confess

 **Park Woojin:** Idk  
**Park Woojin:** When are you going to confess to Seongwoo hyung?

 **Park Jihoon:** can u stfu

 **Park Woojin:** Nope

 **Park Jihoon:** ihu

 **Park Woojin:** I know :-)

 **Park Jihoon:** (¬▂¬)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> raise ur hand if u were expecting 2park endgame and got whiplash towards the end 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
> 
> hope you all enjoyed nonetheless!! :')
> 
>  
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/iridescent__ong) | [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/gyulhyuck)


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